I hope you like it, and it answers some of those questions, @midpark21 :)

Anyway, enjoy tell me what you think etc...

North's POV:

I've been here for at least a month. The first three days I was so out of it; I don't really remember them. When I woke up properly Luke was sitting there, a cast round his right forearm and his eyes shadowed as he watched me, the girl in the mask nowhere to be seen.

One of my arms still tied to the bed and the bear still watching me. I knew we had already had a conversation when the masked girl was present, yet I could hardly remember it, and this was between me and him.

"So..." he finally asked looking up at me properly. And I had no words to say to him. I knew that I had cried last time we talked, but I had no words for him now. What was I supposed to say to my brother, who I had almost killed?

We ended up just sitting there for hours, in silence, looking at each other. Literally hours. The silence was only broken when two monkeys appeared and came though the bars heading straight for Luke. The silence was broken by me swearing, and Luke telling me off for swearing, like they were his kids and their ears needed protection. Of course, now I know that they are basically his kids, but I didn't know then and I thought they were attacking him. Whatever it was, it broke the tension and we finally talked, not about anything serious, but I reckon it was the most words I have ever said in one go.

Now a month later, my 'cell' or 'bay' as they all call it, has grown to twice the size, the baby doll like masked person keeps bringing me stuff to fix, she hardly says a word and doesn't come near me but each time she stays a touch longer.

Speak of the devil. It's become quite a routine, everyday around two, she installed a clock after the first week, she comes and delivers something else for me to work on.

"Hi North," her soft voice practically whispers, I stare at her, this is the first time she's said my name without hate clouding the tone and she's...

She's not wearing a mask.

I can see her face.

Her tanned heat shaped face, soft smooth skin. Her eyes look enormous in her face, bright green in colour, reminding me slightly of a doll's. They look at me straight on. The anger normally present in them seems to be gone for the moment, replaced with yet more wariness. The urge to call her baby and hold her close arises briefly, then Kayli, my beautiful girl, flits across my mind, the urge changes to one to hit her, then find Luke and beat the s**t out of him. Yet it's not as strong as it has been, in fact every time I see her it lessens. When she speaks, I almost forget that I have a girlfriend already.

"I have a theory, as to why you keep forgetting their names..." she mutters, I look at her hopefully, still shocked that she's not wearing the full-face mask, but very interested. I still keep forgetting their names, unless Luke is in front of me or this girl I can hardly remember his name yet alone any others. "But I need you to come out of here for it to work, so put this on!" She holds out a black ankle cuff. Her hand shaking slightly but she doesn't place it on the floor like she normally does. I take a step forward and she doesn't move, her whole-body tenses. I get within three foot and stop reaching out with the hand that isn't attached to the back wall. It hasn't been untied the whole time I've been here. My left hand stretches out behind me as I reach the max of the restraint. My right hand stretches out and I take the ankle cuff. My fingers very lightly brush hers. She jumps back as I feel a shock travel up my arm.

Touching Kayli, my beautiful girl, never gives me any kind of tingles. Blondie steps right back to the door, still watching me closely. I take a few steps back to give her space, then bend to add the cuff to my right ankle. As soon as it's on she speaks again.

"If you leave the premises that," she points, "will inject you with a serum that will knock you out until an antidote is delivered, if it is not delivered within twenty-four hours you..." She pauses and I finish her sentence.

"I won't wake up?", she nods looking apologetic but firm at my question.

"Sorry," she whispers, sounding genuinely upset, I want to be angry at her but she looks so fragile and breakable that I can't, "If you go to far away from me or too close, it will give you an extremely high powered electric shock, it's painful, trust me," it's a weird thing to ask me to trust her on so I just shrug and she gestures to my hand still tied to the wall. I hold it out to her, and she moves forward, her hands reach out shaking, again. She takes a deep breath. The shaking stops and the cuff is unlocked by gentle fingers. Baby, no Blondie, then steps back, a second later it drops off and I have to supress Luke like urges to grab her hand, so see if those tingles come back.

She leads the way out of the bay, and my mouth drops open slightly at the crowd of dogs that gather round her feet while giving me a five-foot radius and glares. She doesn't say anything about then but starts down the hall. A dog growls from behind me, reminding me that I have to get moving. The ankle bracelet beeps twice. I quickly follow her before it can shock me, I don't want to check how serious she was!

And almost crash into Luke. He sends me a grin, slightly nervous but there, yet his eyes sparkle as the look at the girl, they sparkle with an emotion I never thought I'd see in his eyes again. I realise what I observed between them before: love, is real, and lasting.

"Hey Cupcake," she turns and looks at him, he holds up the bundle in his arms, she heads back to him, completely focused on the tiny bundle, even as she passes much closer to me, "She was born this morning, mums doing a fine job of caring, but I think there an issue with the milk supply?" Luke looks at her for a second opinion.

"Yep, I noticed that on my rounds earlier, I hoped it would've have cleared up by now and the flow could have resumed, they were my next stop after sorting North out," She mutters then her hands wave at him. I wish I'd learnt sign now; I know Luke only learnt it because he thought I was deaf or mute when I moved. It was easier than trying to talk to them, then... G... Gabriel came up to me, slapped me across the face. Before I could punch him back, he yelled about his best friend and how much me blanking him was affecting him and his ADHD.

I realise that she is talking again and listen to her as she tells Luke to take me upstairs and that she'll deal with the bundle. She scoops it out of his arms, hands him a clicker, then vanishes down the corridor. About half the dogs, and a few cat-like animals follow her, leaving the rest watching me, still giving me a wide berth.

"Come on Baby Bro!" he grins at me the cast is gone completely now, though the hand is still wrapped, "we can use the no climbing way up, S... Cupcake made it specially for me..." he stops trailing off, he doesn't have to add that I was part of the reason that it needed to be made.

He shrugs the tension growing in the air, then practically skips down the corridor, the ankle beeps again and I move after him. Since when did he get his mojo fully back? This girl is crazy, she kidnaps me then saves my life and apparently Luke's as well, and somehow gives him the light back into his eyes, the light that I thought was gone forever after that f*****g mission.

"WHAT THE F**K?" I yell as we reach the place that seems to be on the extreme end of open plan and I mean extreme, no floors and just a mess of ropes and platforms. Luke flinches at my tone and the swearing. But doesn't explain and just leads me over to a rough pair of seats, strapped to a board at their bases. He points at the one on the left then sits into the one on the right.

"You can pull us up, as I don't think BB likes you very much, yet!" he looks kind of board about the whole situation, yet I can feel him practically vibrating with energy. That's different as well, it's as though his on a permeant sugar high, yet he doesn't have the tapping and extra distractions that his ADHD normally supply. It's like his found another thing that makes him as happy as sweets, I genuinely didn't think something existed in this world. But I can very easily guess what it is.

"How exactly am I supposed to do that?" I grunt, BB? Pull us up? his starting to get on my nerves already. The idiot scoops up a skunk onto his lap, a few others hop on to the platform around our feet. He rubs the ears of one vicious looking dog that growls at me, before pointing at a rope. I tug on in gently and I'm pleasantly surprised when it's not too hard to lift the platform, even with all the animals and us on it.

Despite the ease of using the rope I still have sweat running down my back when we finally reach the top floor. Luke doesn't say a word the entire way up, just sits there stroking the skunk curled in his lap.

"Tie it off there!" he points to a hook out the side of the wall and I quickly loop the rope around it, making sure it's tied off well, I have a feeling that nobody would appreciate it falling and breaking. He flashes me a half smile and leaps easily off the platform on to the top floor, still holding the skunk. The other animals follow him, I do as well, just a lot more cautiously, the swinging platform is not the most stable thing to jump from, despite Luke making it look as though it's the simplest thing in the world. Luke's already disappeared though a door on the opposite side of the 'room'.

I have to say the kitchen is very cool. The appliances! The huge aga! The professional gadgets! I have a definite mini fan girl moment, before I manage to school my features into neutral again. Uncle would love to have some of this stuff in his dinner!

"Come on!" Luke mutters disappearing though another door. How big exactly is this house? "North, stop fan girling the kitchen" How the f**k did he know? "...and come through here!" his words are teasing but the beeps from my ankle and the growls from the dogs, tell me he means business. I go though and it's a totally different scene. Huge computer monitors fill each wall a desk sits in the middle, with yet another monitor on it. "Sit there." Luke points to another chair in front of a different screen, I scowl at him ordering me, but do what he says, he has the zap bracelet after all! "I have to strap you in," he pauses and then does just that before adding, "apparently this might make you react violently!"

"WHAT THE F**K?" I yell at him, tugging on the arm restraints. He flinches, then his eyes shut down, the yelling breaking something in him, again. He goes to the desk, as I struggle against the restraints harder, "LUCIEN LET ME GO!" his eyes glance up at me briefly, I see dark pain in them. Then he presses a button and the screen in front of me starts flashing. It cycles though several colours speeding up as they flash by faster and faster. I keep yelling the entire time. When images start to appear, I shut up, Kayli, then all my brothers finishing with Luke whip across the screen. It feels like someone is trying to drill into my skull. My eyes shut but I can still see the colours. The urge to attack Luke rises to almost unbearable then completely disappears. A second later the colours stop flashing and there is completely quiet. The sounds I didn't even realise were playing disappearing.

"North?" a soft voice questions from in front of me, "can I test and see if it worked?" I keep my eyes shut but nod, I feel like I can breathe again, for the first time in so long! If someone asked me to remember all my brother's names, I could do it right now. "Ok can you just say the first thing that comes into your head when I say these names?" I nod again. "Ok, Nathen Griffin?"

"My friend and... brother, amazing at martial arts and has a huge heart!" I know it's true and I can feel a smile creeping across my face

"Good," the voice whispers, it, she asks me about every brother at Kayli's house. Each time I know exactly who they are and what they mean to me. Then she asks "Luke Taylor?" It's like time stands still for a second then I say.

"My true brother, but his so much more than that, my friend! The ninja guy who something needs a little bit of guidance on what to eat. Annoys me to hell every day, but I love him, his my brother, my rock when I go off the rails and no one else can stop me." I say knowing it's just right and that I really believe what I'm saying. I think I hear the distinct sound of someone whipping their eyes, that's only audible because my hearing is quite so good.

"Kayli Winchester?" I open my mouth to say that she's my beautiful girl, but then I find I can stop and not say that. That's the only phrase that I've been able to say about her for the last months, what happened? What the f**k happened? And why can I now think about her for what she is?

"She's the girl I live with and that I, that my brothers love?" it's more of a question as I don't think what I felt for her was actually love anymore, something is telling me that something was wrong. "She's been manipulating us?" I gasp, she has that's... no... my brothers they don't... no... how could we have been so dumb?

"Open your eyes North S... North open your eyes!" I do, they meet the bright green gaze of Luke's Cupcake, "Nice to finally meet the guy Ninja insists you are," she hesitates the sends me a wary smile, "I'm Sang!"

"Sang." My voice is sightly horse from the yelling earlier. She nods even though it wasn't a question and reaches out to undo my restraints. Luke appears and undoes the ones on my other side, then offers me a hand to stand up. He looks hopeful and I do something I haven't done in what feels like an age, I pull him into a real hug, in fact I haven't hugged anyone in months. Wrapping my arms tightly around him, he grunts slightly, but hugs me back just as tightly, I can feel a very sight dampness on my shoulder. I hear a weird snap noise and flinch, turning to defend before seeing it was just Sang with a polaroid camera. She smiles at us seeming more relaxed now.

"She kind of loves that thing after Erica got it for her a few weeks ago!" My brother mutters in my ear, she rolls her eyes at him and collects the small photo as it comes out. I watch as Luke's eyes glow with happiness at her smile, she heads back into the kitchen. He follows her like a lost puppy, I know I'm not much better when I'm right on his heals.

I find her adding the polaroid to a notice board that already has a few pinned up, it also has hundreds of printed photos. I see one of her and Jess laughing from the backs of horses, their long hair blown back in the wind. In fact, Jess is in a tonne of these photos, as many if not more than Luke. Almost all of them have at least one animal in. Actually, all but one, have animals in, that's the one she's just added, a picture of me and Luke, standing there and hugging. You can't see either of our faces, but the hug looks real, it was real.

I examine the other photos, there's a recent polaroid of Sang and Luke bombing into a river with a dog jumping behind them. One of Jess grinning from where she's lying in a pile of straw, a dog sitting on her stomach. Another has Luke fast asleep on a double bed, a sleepy Sang curled tightly into his side as she watches the photo taker with a half-smile. They have the two monkeys, smaller than when I first met them, and two bundles of fluff in between them. There's a different one, older, Sang's a lot younger in the picture, of her, with Uncle and Dr. Roberts arms around her. Her eyes in that photo look more haunted than they do now, but she still looks happy, it's strange she looks stunning even in that picture, from years ago. A dog sits at her feet, one of her hands rests on it's head.

In one corner there's a polaroid of Erica, Jess, Sang and Luke all sitting at Erica's kitchen table. Jess and Sang are in hysterics, Luke looks put out as he stares at a phone, Erica is holding a parrot of all things. I can't help but laugh slightly at the picture of Luke with orange and blue hair that I find tucked under one of Jess, looking slightly cross covered in feathers, Luke laughing from one side holding... a peacock? I quickly move the one of him with multi-coloured hair to pride of place at the front, no one should be denied that mastery, something that was probably a retaliation prank.

I don't realise quite how long I've been staring at the photos that are quite clearly Sang's family, until it hits me that Sang just added me to her family. Or at least her family photos. I also realise that I want to stay, I shouldn't, should I? I just learnt her name... she kidnapped me. Yet I still can't shake the feeling that this is where I'm supposed to be!

"You finished staring yet?" a voice teases from behind me. I turn gaping at the girl there. I really should have expected her to be here with the number of photos there are on the wall. I want to tell her that no, no I'm not finished staring, not by a long shot, but I just gape at her for a moment.

"Jess!" I half smile at her and she grins at me, look way happier and healthier than I have ever seen her, as a child she was always pale and often ill, hence leading to Kota's, well all of our protectiveness. She throws her arms around me into a hug.

"S told me you're back to you!" she grins at me again. "It's dinner time, you've been looking at that wall for almost an hour!" she laughs leading me into a dining room off to the side. Luke and Ba...Sang are already sitting down, both chattering in another language as they eat. WTF, since when did Luke speak what I think is fluentish Italian. All three of them laugh at my expression, I feel lighter, the laugh making me feel buoyant and making me want to smile, making me want to grin. Which I don't do, this is all still too strange.

Luke makes a comment to Sang which has both the girls giggling harder. Then they all start speaking English for the remainder of lunch, which is weirdly delicious, even the smoothie tastes amazing now rather than tolerable. I comment on this and they all go quiet for a moment before Sang grins...

I know why Luke follows her like a lovesick puppy now!

Hope you liked it, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

See you soon ish!